Computing device failures are a common occurrence. On some occasions such failures cause critical harm to the software running or stored on the computing device. The damage or corruption of the software will cause programs running on the computing device to malfunction, resulting in programs not functioning in the way intended or even at all. When the damage or corruption of software occurs, a common way to correct the problem is to reimage or reinstall the software. In some instances, reimaging a particular software module or software program may be sufficient to fix the issue. This solution is most common with software that is nonessential to the general function of the computing device.
When essential software or multiple software programs fail, because of damage or corruption, more often the solution is to reimage the entire program, or even reimage the entire drive where the program is stored. When reimaging a drive, the drive may be wiped clean, resulting in the loss of all information on the drive.
In any of the above cases, whether it is necessary to reimage just a software module or the entire drive, the software failure or the reimaging process may disable certain abilities of the computing device, or the reimaging process may require certain interaction with the computing device. Examples of these issues include disabled input devices or required use of an input device. In some instances, the disabled input device may hinder reimaging, and in other cases where the required use of an input device may not be feasible if the input device is not available.
It is desirable to provide a method and apparatus for an automatic recovery keyboard for reimaging of software without the use of certain peripheral devices.